Regulator IPART to make decision by May
North Sydney Council will ask rates regulator IPART for a 52.6% rate rise to take effect from July, after an extraordinary meeting on January 19.
The special rate variation (SRV) will be staggered over three years, permanent and cumulative, set at 23% from July, 14% from 2027 and 8% from 2028. It would raise $278 million in additional revenue over 10 years. The average increase would be $452 over three years.
Councillors voted 7-3 for the SRV, with IPART required to undertake another community consultation before it makes its decision, expected around mid-May.
IPART had criticised North Sydney Council in its previous attempt to raise rates by 87%, saying it had not clearly informed the community why it needed the SRV.
Last year, to address these concerns, council enlisted Micromex to undertake a consultation, which found that 50% of those surveyed were for and 50% against rate rises above the ‘peg’ (usually around 3 to 4% and set by IPART every year). In a report to council, CEO Therese Cole said the SRV was needed to address a $157 million infrastructure backlog, with much of council’s capital funding in recent years siphoned to the over-budget pool redevelopment, which will cost around $122 million.
Ms Cole also said that North Sydney’s residential community was among the most socio-economically advantaged in Australia, with all suburbs ranking in the top 1 to 2% nationally.
“Given the area’s high incomes, low debt stress, and strong payment history, the report concludes that North Sydney’s residential ratepayers have the capacity to pay the proposed rate increases, with council’s hardship provisions ensuring equity and support where needed.”
Mayor Zoë Baker, who supported the SRV, said the decision was not easy: “No one wants to pay more. We have an obligation to make really difficult decisions, even if they’re unpopular, with an eye not just to the existing population, but to the next generation.”
State-Government mandated housing targets will see an influx of 5,000 new homes in North Sydney in the next five years, a quota already set to be filled in the next three years. Mayor Baker said the 52% SRV would ‘crucially’ allow council to ‘do some of the planning that we need to do for the facilities and for increasing population that we are accommodating now, and we know is going to increase exponentially over the next 10 years.’
High priorities for North Sydney would be infrastructure projects like sea walls, stormwater upgrades and fixing heritage bus shelters, many of which have been taped off due to damage, Mayor Baker said.
Looking further ahead, a masterplan for Crows Nest which addressed the increased housing expected in the next five years, with open space delivery, were crucial, Mayor Baker added.
“The other priority is the Blues Point foreshore masterplan, which has been long overdue and is part of shepherding one of the most iconic pieces of foreshore in the state, if not the country.”
IPART will undertake another community consultation in March, before announcing its decision on the SRV by May.
